Travelers passing through Austin-Bergstrom International Airport ran into a mess of delays Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, after a partial power outage knocked out lighting and ticket-counter equipment inside the Barbara Jordan Terminal. Airport officials confirmed the outage disrupted operations and caused numerous flight delays, though they said screening and baggage services kept running throughout the disruption.
Ticket Counters and Baggage Lights Among the Hardest Hit
According to fox7austin.com, officials confirmed there was a partial power outage at the Barbara Jordan Terminal. FOX 7 reported the outage lasted nearly two hours, with power fully restored a little after 8 p.m. As reported by KXAN Austin, the outage knocked out power to Southwest, United and Delta ticket counters and dimmed the lights in some baggage claim areas.
Despite the disruption, the station's report notes that baggage claim services kept functioning and the airport's TSA checkpoint remained operational throughout the outage. Airport officials said arriving and departing flights experienced numerous delays because of the power disruption, though they reported they were not aware of any cancellations tied to the outage.
Crews Work to Bring Systems Back Online
Austin Energy and airport officials were working together to fix the issue, fox7austin.com reported. Per the same account, crews worked to fix the issue.
By around 6:40 p.m., airport systems began coming back online, per the KXAN report, as the airport worked to restore power throughout the evening while Austin Energy continued efforts to fully restore service.
Echoes of a Bigger Blackout in 2022
Tuesday's outage was notably smaller in scope than one that hit the airport in September 2022, when a power failure knocked out electricity across the entire 4,000-acre airport property starting around 4:30 a.m., according to cbsaustin.com. That outage left travelers in the dark for hours, and no flights were departing while crews worked with Austin Energy to find the cause, as reported by cbsaustin.com.
Accounts of exactly when power returned to the terminal in 2022 differed. One cbsaustin.com report said Austin Energy had restored power to the terminal by 8 a.m., while another cbsaustin.com report put full restoration closer to 7:15 to 7:30 a.m. Austin Energy later determined that 2022 outage stemmed from malfunctioning underground equipment, specifically an elbow cable and switchgear, cbsaustin.com reported. TSA checkpoints stayed open during that earlier outage as well, though travelers were warned to expect delays.
An airport spokesperson said at the time that the airport had experienced a smaller outage back in 2009, but that nothing of that scale had happened in recent years, according to cbsaustin.com. The Barbara Jordan Terminal has had other hiccups since then, too — passengers were evacuated from the terminal in August 2022 after a water main break triggered a fire alarm, per the same outlet.
